Athelhampton

ADMISTON, or ATHELHAMPTON, a parish, in the union of DORCHESTER, hundred of PIDDLETOWN, Dorchester division of DORSET, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from Dorchester; containing 74 inhabitants. This place is said to have been the principal residence of the Saxon kings of Wessex, but there is no satisfactory evidence of the truth of that opinion. The living is a rectory, with that of Burleston annexed, valued in the king's books at £2; net income, £200; patron, the Earl of Mornington. The church is a small edifice, repaired by Sir Robert Long in 1740, before which it contained an apartment supposed to have been anciently inhabited by a rector or custos.